my name is mine and I am in fourth grade please stand and join me in the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance a plge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for [Music] all welcome to the Matan aine Regional School District regular Action meeting on December 21st 2023 time is now 6:31 p.m. the New Jersey the open meeting law with an act to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of it to attend the meeting with public bodies of which any business affecting their interest is discussed orre in accordance with the provision of this act the Madan aing Regional School District Board of Education advertised this meeting on June 20th 2023 in Asbury Park Press and the Star Ledger this noce we sent to the municipal Clerks of the bur of Matan and the township of a and the Manan aine Public Library the notice was also placed on the district's website welcome everyone and beautiful job all the [Applause] students M VI here mner Mr mon here miss pal here miss SC here miss miss War yes M Martina here M here I'm going to turn it over to Dr B for theight thank you good evening everyone and welcome to lyro elementary school um tonight we're going to be presenting some highlights from our school and also we will get to hear some holiday uh music from our talented students that we have here tonight both from our band um and our vocal students so hope you enjoy we're going to start off um with a selection from uh our local students with Mr Sam LaVine our Music Teacher and then Miss Suzanne Hughes our instrumental band teacher um I will go through the PowerPoint and then we'll close after the PowerPoint with two more numbers from our vocal students and our band students so at this time I will turn it over to Mr [Music] line one two ready go it's the most wonderful time [Music] everyone you of good Che the most wonderful time of [Music] the happiest SE of all holiday greetings and warm happy greeting [Music] [Music] glor It's the Most Wonderful Time [Music] the stories and the glor of is all it's the most wonderful time [Music] to are the wonderful time of the great job and thank you and we'll have one more number at the end of the presentation and at this time I'm going to turn it over to Mrs Hughes for a [Music] [Applause] number [Music] [Applause] s [Music] [Applause] [Music] 3 [Music] [Applause] 2 [Music] [Applause] thank you very much all right so welcome um to our Board of Education members superintendent Mrs Perez our central office administration our parents and Guardians that are here tonight our students our incredibly talented students um as well as our teachers welcome to Lloyd Road Elementary School um it does take a village uh to run a school and we are very fortunate to have uh many members that make this happen our Board of Ed our superintendent and central office our operations and maintenance our teachers and our Specialists instructional support staff our front office secretarial staff our custodial staff uh cafeteria and lunch AIDS our PTO parents and community members and you're going to hear tonight about some of the highlights here at Lloyd Road that take the support and involvement of each of these individuals um Mrs olon and I Mrs Olson um the assistant principal here at l Road we had the opportunity um to be chefs for a day and really learn what it takes um to be back there in the kitchen serving out uh breakfast and lunch for 530 students students and it's not an easy task so but it was a fun opportunity for us to really um get an understanding of um what goes on behind the scenes to give every student a hot meal for practice and lunch so we had a fun time doing that as well so a little bit about Lloyd Road um we have 531 students um and then a breakdown um of the demographics we have 19% uh special education 8% English Learners um and then a breakdown of our demographics um by race and ethnicity as you can see here we're also very fortunate to have a very um culturally diverse student population you can see there the list of Home languages that our students um have and work with our ESL teacher Miss Leslie um in many cases if they're coming here and they are part of our ESL program but we're very fortunate to have such a rich diverse student population that's really what makes this school such a special place our our vision and mission statement you can see here our um vision is that all students will become lifelong Learners um and become contributing members of society who are able to achieve success and our goal is to prepare them for that here at Lloyd Road and prepare them for the middle school and high school um then of course our mission as a district is to foster a safe and Equitable learning environment that celebrates our diverse Learners and also prioritizes as your feel here tonight the social and emotional development and the academic development of our students for the 2324 school year lyd Road Elementary School is focusing on the following professional development goals as as you can see up there our literacy program which is my view and our ready map implementation both are within the first um 3 to 5 years of implementation social emotional learning and restorative practices tier one supports for all Learners and tier one supports are what we can do within the classroom so our goal is to provide provide as much support in the classroom as possible and to provide our teachers with the tools and knowledge that they're able to um address students and meet students where they're at um in some cases we have students that need to be pulled out for specialized program but our goal is to equip all teachers so they can be best prepared in the tier one classroom so when you're here tier one it's within that Home Room class and then the implementation of Genesis which is our student information system and then all of this has a Common Thread which is really focusing on diversity equity and inclusivity and you'll hear a little bit about our work um in just a few slides so the strategic planning goals for the district um which is a common uh thread that we have across schools is to provide opportuni to explore their and develop their personal passions um increase the achievement of all students through um access to rigorous coursework develop and refine programs that meet the needs of all students develop and refine and Implement professional development as well as seal mental health wellness and practices that Foster Dei or diversity equity and inclusivity so I'm going to quickly review some of the work that we're doing here at Lloyd Road to accomplish these goals um this year we established a Lloyd Road Cafe l by students in our MD and autism classes that provide students with the opportunity to learn essential life skills um including planning shopping Finance um order preparation um on Friday mornings the students have the opportunity to come deliver um hot chocolate tea coffee to the teachers as well as cookies and muffins um so it's giving them great life experiences as well as supporting our school Community we have diverse after school clubs um that students can select different options including soccer academical um board games chess club pure buddies we have a student council with Home Room Representatives um from each um home room and we are um planning the implementation of an Esports club that you'll he hear more about in just a few moments um so this was a picture of our students um from our Lloyd Road Cafe um we had our grand opening on December 15th um and our staff had the opportunity to have muffins um coffee tea um and it's delivered to them um and the students enjoy um making those deliveries to the classrooms in the office um so we are looking to create new opportunities so one of the things I'm going to talk briefly about tonight is Esports um and we do not currently have an orts program but as we look to the Future we're always looking to figure out how we can provide students with new inovative cours workor and that's one of the goals as part of our strategic plan um and Esports um benefits students in many ways I'm going to highlight a few of those including emotional self-regulation um the development ofal it builds a sense of community among students and their PE peers it builds grit resilience sportsmanship and had to be part of a team so what is Esports it's short for electronic Sports is an organized um competitive competitive video gaming um video Gamers compete with other online gamers in competitions leagues and tournaments um at certain levels such as here at Lloyd Road um potentially could be run as an after school club and then as they go up to the middle school if you're aware they have an an incredible um Esports Lab at the middle school and the high school um which is now recognized as a formal athletic sport um so our goal here in Lloyd Road is to really prepare students give them a flavor of what opportunities they have at the middle school and high school so they can go to the middle school and high school knowing what interest them what passions um they have and what potential um options they would want to take advantage of um skilled Gamers can earn lots of money um they have teams um and worldwide tournaments and online gaming has been around for a long time and now it's really starting to become become organized and quickly becoming recognized as a professional sport um similar to NFL NBA U Major League Baseball and such so orts at the elementary level what that would look like with running at an after school club our clubs run typically two times per week um inclusion and comp um competition are mutually exclusive um so really working giving all students the opportunity to participate learn about gaining if they're interested giving them those skills and those tools should they want to pursue that when they get to the middle school there's no ranking system no scorekeeping teams set goals for themselves um the only player student really is competing against as themselves learning how to really once again build those skills of resilience um teamwork and working together um in competitive format but not with any high stakes attached so it's a good opportunity for our students um so the games that students would be included would be Smash Brothers um there doesn't need to be um any um experience these games would be able to so um racing game nario Kart and Rocket League um and parent permission would be um granted for each of these programs um you can see some of them were at no cost or very little cost as well and they are rated E for everyone so at this level um orts games would be appropriate for all students at the fourth and fifth grade LEL so um that's a little bit about Esports and a little bit about looking ahead to the Future I'm going to quickly review some of the um goals that we set forth that I announced in the beginning and what we're doing um so we're engaging all students in activities that promote self-reflection goal setting and interest inventories we use learning style modality surveys I'll redesign the g&t and enrichment to increase access and inclusion in the Arts and we have art and music enrichment up and running we have died after school opportunities um the development and potential development of Esports course and band opportunities and then as I said our lunchtime and uh art and music enrichment and we have various clubs as I noted here here so numerous opportunities for students to be engaged um students typically meet one time per month per grade level some of the clubs are combined um together and meet twice per month um instrumental music lessons grade four students take lessons or grade five students perform in a spring concert and then instrument demonstrations in September begin for all fourth grade students so once again it's about exposure giving students the um opportunity to try a new instrument figure out what works for them if it doesn't work maybe it's not for them but if it's something interest then they can pursue that as they move up um our clubs and extracurriculars um as I mentioned earlier we have a vast array so we're very fortunate um including homework support program that runs four days a week after school that's open for any student um and they have an opportunity to complete their homework with the guidance um of the teacher um and that also um is part of our after school we don't call it a club it's part of our after school program um you can see here this is some of the um students in after school art Club they were great dream catchers so we have some fun activities for our students goal two is increasing student achievement so what we're doing here at Lloyd Road we've increased proficiency from 22 to 23 on both the I ready and the njsla we have an I ready personalized pathway for every student our goal is that every student's on their pathway for 40 minutes for Math and 40 minutes for reading each week um we've worked with staff to review and analyze the njsla evidence statements um so our staff uh came together they looked at the stand standards from the state assessment they looked at where we were performing we are above the state in all areas but we look at where are those areas that we are just on the cus of the state average and those are areas that we want to focus on so we identified what standards we want to focus on WE identified where in the curriculum those standards are taught and then we make sure that we are teaching those standards in alignment with the way they're assessed on the state assessment um we have content um department meetings um we review I ready data and pathway data and we review review already growth and make sure that students are getting onto that pathway once again for 40 minutes per week and then meeting and passing those lessons within 80% class um goal two we also have teacher Representatives update our curriculum and pacing guides to ensure all of the critical content or what they call major content is covered prior to the state test um the utilization of I ready ready math in my view to ensure rich and diverse content at all levels the IR ready pathway that we spoke about the utilization of studies weekly and Studies Weekly well-being which is what we use for our social studies as well as our counseling lessons um and this year we are implementing the scripts um spelling be so we are fortunate to uh partner with scripts to bring um the script spelling be to l Road so classrooms have been working on individual class fees and then information will be going out in the New Year about our schoolwide spelling be so that's a new opportunity for our students who they be interested in participating um goal three programs and support some some of the things that we're doing here is professional development so we work on uh professional development for some of our teaching staff particularly Orton Gillingham which is um two of our Ela interventionists um and our MD teacher um have been trained focused on students who need assistance with uh gimic awareness and phonic support so it's a systematic program that provides support teachers are trained in these programs and then work with students in small groups we have an mtss which is our multi-tiered system of supports so tier one is what happens in the classroom tier two is when a teacher pushes into a classroom for additional support and then tier three is when students need to be in some cases pulled out and they work in a smaller setting for skills and standards that they need to work on WE accordly data analysis progress review meetings we look at how students are progressing we identify students who may be needing to exit so they have met the Mastery goal that we have set for them and they can exit we also identify students who may need additional support and we do those after each marketing period and we also have an arrest or an intervention and referral services team um when students experience academic or behavioral difficulties it's an interdisciplinary team teachers Specialists come together to develop action plans to support students in the F goal four uh professional development we have embedded PD throughout our monthly faculty meetings as well as department meetings um we have coaching by our program Specialists we have done a number of PD um this year a number of professional development workshops this year um we had nurtured heart which really focuses on social emotional learning um really um leading and uh with kindness and caring at the at the heart of what we do um we had training for our counselors and our child study team members on Mental Health First Aid Handle With Care training um Orton Gillingham as I just explained in the previous slide and that's for phonics and then we have a program visualizing and verbalizing for students that experience um difficulty with reading comprehension informational text so that program would be implemented for students who need additional support um we have our student services referral testing and identification process um in November all teachers receive PD on what that process looks like so teachers know what the process is what documentation is needed um in order to make a referral if the student does need support um we did a presentation on all you need to know about related services that includes OT occupational therapy Physical Therapy speech therapy in my newsletters and updates you'll see there are newsletters that are going to be coming out monthly last month we shared out the OT speech PT and our counseling Corner newsletter so that should provide you with information on how you can support your child at home with some strategies related to those areas we did professional development on student coping and DS um sorry um related services and then looking ahead in January we'll be doing PD on um student coping and deescalation strategies sheltered English instruction to support our English Learners as you saw in the beginning slot three of a diverse student population so it's important that all of our teachers have the tools and the knowledge to work with students if they are coming to this country for the first time do not speak English as their first language and it's really best practices across all students using visual aid and instruction how to incorporate kinesthetic activities how to appeal to students that are visual Learners tactile Learners um so it's really best practice although designed for El's best practice across the board supporting students with uh fostering positive peer-to-peer relationships organizational skills and time management that will be additional PD um and we are using Castle's framework for schoolwide seal implementation that really looks at a restorative approach how to run restorative circles um and how to run restorative approaches which means addressing any harm meeting with students and focusing on how we can build positive relationships and some cases repair relationships when need and this is just a little snapshot of's guide this PowerPoint will be shared with u Mrs Perez and the board and will'll be posted as well so goal five SEAL Mental Health wellness and climate we've established um and this is a requirement each school has this a school climate safety and diversity team we need monthly to focus on ways that we can um enhance our school climate um we have um revised our code of conduct to incorporate restorative approaches including the implementation of circles reflection forms and counselor Le conflict resolution sessions um and this is a key piece of what we do here at Lloyd Road these are our monthly character education themes so it's all about what we can do to build students that are kind that are responsible respectful that understand what a growth mindset is um that are compassionate that have integrity we build trust safety a work ethic friendship and Leadership and each month we identify students that are recognized by both staff as well as their teachers that exhibit these and we have students of the month that are recognized for demonstrating each of these characteristics our counselors push into the classrooms they do less in all of our classrooms and the lessons that they do in the classroom focus on each of these character traits each month um so seal mental health Wellness what we're doing we've implemented morning meetings um which has been going on for some time we formalized that and developed over the summer um our counselors we are very fortunate to have three full-time counselors here at Lloyd Road Elementary School they work together over the summer to develop a morning meeting calendar where teachers have activities and videos specific to um these areas that they can um use for 10 minutes 5 minutes 10 minutes in the morning to work with students it's an informal opportunity just to reset the day make expectations for what they're going to be learning um it really gives teachers an opportunity to get a pulse on the students figure out where they are that day emotionally and ready for academics um we've developed an area in our library as an SE reset area counselors meet with students in there for sessions as well we have um Station activities in there as well where students can go and do puzzles and games when needed that they just need to reset um we've established a therapy dog program to support students and staff um with mental health wellness and promote the development of our character education traits um so I'm sure um You probably heard from our students um we have our four-legged friends coming to visit our school um phoei and Zoe and um uh uh Pebbles and we have a number of dogs that are visiting our school each day from um jetsus the Labradors the golden doodles um and they just bring a smile students have an opportunity to work with those dogs doing mabs practice reading um so it's a great opportunity for our students and there's many benefits um that have been shown to working with animal so really a great program um that we're very happy for some pictures of our students working with some of our um therapy dogs as well there's some additional photos there's Zara um one of our Labradors um that was one of our it's not a bernes mountain dog one of the biggest dogs um but a gentle giant um the students really enjoyed that um and there you can see but a black lab that also came to Vis so great opportunities for our students that um we're very fortunate to have here at the um so continuing on um monthly character education theme we have as I said small group and individual counseling Lunch Bunch groups um counselor and student cafeteria connection so our counselors are here in the cafeteria throughout each Lunch Period our library is right next door so we' an opportunity as needed to um work with students in that library right across from the cafeteria morning announcements with the principal student Le character education quotes which will be starting in January and we do our student and staff birthday recognitions we announce those each morning and then we have positive behavior and character uh recognition programs we have a caught being kind system where students can be caught being kind all of our teachers staff members custodial staff have tickets if a student is holding the door for someone they could get a kindness ticket helping appear in class class it's really a random act of random act of kindness um and that we want to promote that it's really caught being good it's really you know you build character when you do the right thing when no one's looking and that's really what it's about but recognizing those students as well they go into a jar in the main office on Friday afternoons we do a drum roll and we pull out names from that and we have some large uh um uh boxes and um uh Treasures of different prizes for our students that get kindness so and I know many of our students here have uh gotten those kindness tickets we have good news postcards that are mailed home as well as our student of the month program and then in addition um we have started this year our counselor caught me being program so and it could be um you'll see here counselor caught me being helpful counselor caught me being brave counselor caught me being dedicated um so once again how we can promote those character education traits in different ways and he we have a very uh talented art teacher here Mrs gurnie you'll see some of the artwork displayed out there on your way out if you wanted to take a moment and look um she did caricatures of our students um which is really incredible um she actually worked at Great Adventure and and did car caricatures for um the people going to Great Adventure so we're fortunate to have her using that Talent here gr and then here are some of our qu being kind kind ticket winners for September and October and here are some of our student of the month um this was September and October um and also we have them on our bulletin boards as well we had our aine fire safety student program which was a great opportunity the fire company came out um and they gave students a tour of the fire trucks explained about fire safety explained the importance of what to do if there is a fire in their home as well as explained the different um uniforms and Fire Protection gear that the fire fighters wear so you can see there we had a beautiful day for an outside uh demonstration the students really enjoyed it and learn a lot about fire safety which is really important um we have wew pride Wednesdays this was also shared out in a recent newsletter um which St our staff are wearing college or career trade wear um to promote conversations about college or career um and also we have now moved that out to students so our first Wednesday of each month students can read their spirit wear and show their school spirit um so that is our where with PRI Wednesdays we have also influent this year staff shout outs so just like our students can be caught being kind our staff can be caught being kind in a number of ways um anonymously they can submit something for another staff member of the main office when we do our tickets on Friday we call out staff members they get a special um token that Mrs Olsson created where they may get to wear jeans on a day something special um to recognize them as well since we don't have a a jar of treats uh for them but wearing jeans for a day goes a long way so things like that um really go a long way to build a culture um and in a positive way school beautification projects that we have here Mrs gurnie was also decorating our windows so we had fall themed windows we are now all decked out for the holidays so you'll see in our front office um all of our holiday window decorations and then that will move into snowmen and winter um you we'll get some snow this year who knows but um you'll see those windows change throughout the year so just um making our school as bright and beautiful as possible you might have seen this mural um once again a Helen Keller quote together we can do so much that's near our nurse's office in the front um so just other ways that we are promoting um our school of culture envirment and school beautification we had a lot of fun on Halloween here at Lloyd Road we had a Halloween parade um we had very interesting uh costume students had a fun time doing the parade around the school um and our staff also had a great time um we were rocking out so lloy Ro rocks a lot of us were rock stars so we did a group uh picture there in the morning um Mrs Hughes is over here one of our traffic cones for Halloween along with Mrs kovski um our Spanish teacher Mrs Alon myself um and the staff out for morning bus Duty we all enjoyed uh rocking it out for Halloween as well so we'll change the theme off each year but it was a fun time and then go 6 Dei um which is diversity equity and inclusivity uh we have a Dei team here at the school we have we meet monthly we are working uh with Dr RS our district director for Dei we've developed a smart goal for our school that will be finalized in January and we participate in the Central Jersey Consortium for excellence and equity and education um technology this year um all teaching staff received a new Chromebook in the beginning of the year all of our fifth graders got a brand new Chromebook this year fourth graders um are maintaining their existing Chromebook which is about a year old we have an online Google forms writing teachers that need tech support we have a School Technology League which is our computer teacher Mr Leman um utilization of Google class room to support instruction um and to support once again hybrid learning um to support students being able to access content and do their work um virtually at home for homework assignments as well as projects and Google Classroom is a great resource for that um and parent involvement we have parent education nights so we had a night in November um from preferred Behavioral Health which focused on relationships and social skills mental health and coping strategies Online safety organization and time management we have a family night coming in April which will'll have reading and math stations stem stations and weekly and bi-weekly parent updates um and our PTO we are very fortunate we have an amazingly supportive dedicated Dynamic PTO we have a fundraising goal this year of $20,000 um to support a uh shade structure for our playground the playground as you leave um our school just before you get onto that side street that new playground that was put in there our goal is to put a shade structure in there so students can enjoy that in different types of weather on hot days um when the students really too hot to be out there tables and picnic tables for our garden area with umbrellas so we can maximize some Outdoor Learning opportunities so they've been incredibly supportive in raising money all to support our students in our school fall Harvest Festival birthday grams candy cane grams um we had a court jester dining night um all of that money went um to our shade structure holiday shop school store tie-dye set the Winter Chill and coming up next month is our pancake breakfast and craft bear which will be right here in the cafeteria um we had our p uh Pizza Bingo night which was a lot of fun as well um so our students um got to play bingo with their families we used fro loops and um Bingo boards and we had crafts Pizza soda it was a fun night um for students to come together with their families right here in the cafeteria we have done our PTO fall Harvest we had a number of cars all decked out um for Halloween for our trunk Retreat so the students got to come and enjoy in their costumes um go to the um different trunks to see the incredible decorations and then we had um activities for the students to do as well uh pumpkin patch face painting um you name it uh for activities for students there most recently we had our PTO Winter Chill which was a great night um we had students in here having hot chocolate and cocoa we had game set up were able to decorate ornaments they were able to have face painting um eat some holiday treats um as well as do games in the gym so it was a really fun night um and we know our students really enjoyed it and that's what it's about when you see pictures like this um of The Smiling Faces you remember why you why you're doing this and uh what it's all about um and we have as I said some artwork on display out there so I encourage you to look at that um on your way out as well here are some samples um we wish you lots of holiday chees year and good fortune in the new year and if you noticed Mr Laine was recently on Wheel of Fortune and this is him on Wheel of Fortune [Applause] so we're lucky to quit a a trip to some place and Le us so he's still still waiting on the car waiting on the you're going have to pull out front and hunt the horn so we can all look out the window when you get that all right so at this time I'm going to turn it back over over to U Mr LaVine for our second um vocal and then I'll turn it over to Miss Hughes who will close out our presentation with some [Music] holiday [Music] [Applause] [Music] you Merry Christmas I wish you a Merry Christmas I want to wish you a Merry Christmas the of my heart I want to wish you a Merry Christmas I want to wish you a Merry Christmas I want to wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my [Music] heart [Music] last time go I to wish you a merry Christmas I to wish you Merry Christmas I want to wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart I want to wish you a Merry Christmas I want to wish you a Merry Christmas I want to wish you a Merry Christmas on the bottom of my [Music] heart Christmas wish you a Merry Christmas wish you a merry Christmas and happy to all of our school Christmas and happy New Year We wish you a Merry Christmas we wish you a Merry Christmas wish you a merry Christmas and [Music] [Applause] happy great job thank you and thank you to all of our vocal students great job I'm now going to turn it over to miss H and our instrumental for final [Music] 2 [Music] great j i another round of applause for all of our students perform [Music] here and thank you all I hope everyone has a happy holiday season and a happy healthy New Year thank you all for coming out [Music] [Music] tonight holiday C people around the world as and our ownes the sharing of family holiday costumes was enjoyed by night would also like to congratulate miss her book what do you do her book is currently available is called cheer and joy while wrapping up December and hosting their kickoff assembly for staff vers which was held at the high school gym on which will be held at the high school gym on January 31st tickets are now available on D R's presol open thisth students and their SS have been enjoying new appointment before school during grow motor time during recess and after school help free stop by on Sunday afternoon and enjoy the we would like to wish all of our members of the m a commune a relaxing end 2023 and looks for to reporting events in January Lloyd Ro helped their win children sponsored by the P it was a great night for students including hot chocolate with CFT activities candy inspired gam and Station activities in the Jun where students enjoyed cor home Rings basketball and it was a great night for all who they' like to especially thank the PTM students in sta are enjoying holiday spirit with fun activities in that include holiday songwe Co PJ day and wearing your favorite holiday colors to spr and l Road is also to sh and in conjunction with the spirit has with all pro to our schoolification project we look forward to working together to enhance the clim and culture with inspirational poster signs and cations to enhance the appearance of our school road is near enough for the Valentine's P bir and craft which will take place on January 20 from 9 to 11:3 a.m. the mayi student faculty basketball game was a great success players for the student and stop teams have and we collected a record number of toys for toys fors thanks to the man's Community for your support and man's art student visited our central office to pain girls on the they also just finished painting the office at with beautiful for all our students and to enjoy thank you Mr St and Maj concerts were sucess our band and job Mr W and Ryder were awesome students and can't wait to you so so we are now going to go into our first examp resolve that post session Beed for the purpose of discussing privacy person matters the subject matter of these discussions will be disclosed to the [Music] public Al theard Cann guarantee the 30 minutes aftere proed can I get a motion in second to all can I get a motion a second to return to public session I'll motion I'll second so can I get a motion in a second to approve the minutes for the committee of the whole meeting November 16 2023 executive session meeting minutes um November 16th 2023 regular Action meeting minutes November 30th 2023 executive session minutes 1 and 2 November 30th 202 all motion sorry we miss VI yes Mr Monto yes Miss pal yes M [Music] SC M Mar yes M martinz yes yes okay um the board president's report is actually kind of brief tonight um so just wanted to thank everyone who came out uh to support our students over the past few weeks there were a lot of um uh Winter band chorus concerts and a variety of other holiday activities like winter chills and things um also um wanted to thank all the community members who came out to support um the mwan abine Educational Foundation fundraiser it was a great night um Mr Carter and the high school jazz band did an amazing job and it was a lot of fun um I think we all had a lot of fun there um uh congratulations to all the staff members that were named as educator and educational support specialist of the year um we want to thank you for all that you do for our students and our staff in the district reminder tomorrow is an early dismissal for students and staff um on behalf of the board want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season Happy New Year here um enjoy the time with your friends and family and we look forward to seeing everyone in 2024 um our next meeting will be a reorganization meeting on January 4th and our next regular Action meeting will take place on January 18th so from there curriculum and instruction Mr sorry Mr Le thank you good evening under cric instruction we're asking the board to take action and approve items A and B just since we didn't have a committee with the whole I'm going to find out a couple things for the board under items number two and three uh we just want to support our student athletes baseball wrestling as they go to their uh respective trainings tournaments in this case I'd like to read a change to the minutes under a travel staff member Christina sa last name sa the date for travel is listed as March 12th should be March 12th through the 15th that concludes pr1 instruction thank you can I get a motion and a second to approve the agenda I'll motion a second great any questions or comments from the board then we're going to move to Student Services Mr Le we are asking the board to take action and approve items 1 through 8 I'm listed on page one and two and I to point out to the board this is found on page 202 we take a look at item number four and item number five this is for the curriculum based Construction trip to CBI um so we want to thank those Community Partners who will be hosting our our students as they have done throughout the year that concludes student [Music] services thank you can I get a motion in a second to approve the agenda motion I'll second any questions or comments from the board okay um I do want to say that I love the mini course therapy it's very cool love to attend um okay moving on to Personnel Dr Micah good evening everyone I think Mr barl will be riding one of those horses as well okay got a s I figured I'd bring a little levity um wishing everyone a happy holiday and a great Break um we are going to start with action items the superintendent is recommending listed on the walk-in item that that I brought to the board's attention and I would also ask the board um for board approval for items listed under a D1 through 11 and D1 through 11 and I would like to bring the board's attention to the Ruckers University BR um just to give you guys a little bit of background on that uh speaking I'm going to be reading from my notes the Rucker lead comprehensive School mental health Team offers training and Technical assistance to support the development enhancement and sustainability of comprehensive School Mental Health Systems in schools districts and state educational agencies the goal is to bridge the gap between theory and practice by part excuse me by partnering with schools to support the whole child with academic success and social emotional well-being the New Jersey enhancing School Mental Health Services project is Statewide trainings enhance the Knowledge and Skills of new Jersey Educators to deliver evidence-based and culturally and linguistically responsive mental health programming for students and we're really excited to receive this grant uh and can't wait to get the ball roll and this concludes my report thank you thank you can I get a motion and a second to approve the agenda I'll motion a second any questions or comments from the board I have a question yep um under the walk item the um assistant manager of Information Systems and Technology um I just was curious about the duties and responsibilities of that position in terms of specifically in terms of Website Maintenance and I want to see if that's something that could be addressed with that either that position or in some other way case speak um either with this person or in some other way I would like to address just Website Maintenance and updating And archiving and yes so with the website we have bits moved from Blackboard and taken over by final site so final site is still determining what they can take on from Blackboard and what they're going to take on themselves and have us requested to change the website so we're just waiting for the company to let us know the details and then we'll have to decide from there whether we want to stay with them or move to another provider and then we'll be able to rectify the other issues I so Blackboard so final site basically Blackboard turned into final s correct so and we had originally retained black board we always okay so now it's like kind of like a new contract and we have to figure out where everything stands final contracts within the um actual operating system of the website platform okay okay thank you any other questions or comments I have if not okay um so related they're both related to The District calendar for 2425 so um so the public knows that's up for um approval tonight and I know I sent this question and um but just want to confirm if we don't use our snow days next year and we remove the days at the end of the year the graduation day will also move up potentially okay uh so that was one question um the second is more um a statement related to the 2425 calendar um there was uh we want to really thank the cultural awareness committee because there was a lot of work that went into developing um essentially like a one pager document like a very concise document that's user friendly that I think can be a great tool that can be used to educate our school Community not just the staff but the well staff coaches um students in terms of the various holidays that are celebrated within our school Community um and help us as we plan ahead um just the community knows um the intention behind developing it was to ensure that we're fair for all students in our district um and make sure that they all feel like they are able to um observe their religious holidays without being penalized or disciplined in a way that they shouldn't be everybody should get to um I forget exactly how many um different um different um religions we have in do you remember right like it was a lot so there are a lot of kids that do celebrate um differently so we just want to make sure everybody has the opportunity to um you know to observe without feeling guilty or like they have all this extra homework or that they have to get done the next day they can't do um they can't really celebrate as much or if it's a sporting event that we keep that in mind um that they aren't penalized if they miss a practice that day and don't get to play a game so it's really just making sure that everybody is treated equally so I don't know yes I did want to thank the committee for even thinking of doing it and for working on it as someone who is not in the majority of the religion celebrated I've spent many years having to both as a professional and as a student have to work around and not be able to fully enjoy or get penalized for things and um there are times as we discussed in our our other session about you know there are different times for people to learn how to manage their time they should not have to do it on a holiday when the people who enjoy celebrating the holidays that are prevalent in our community get a week off for each sh them so I'm just very grateful for not only bringing this to the Forefront but making it part of our system that those students can just freely observe and do so from the bottom of my heart being I wasn't evened on the board when this was taken on thanks to those of you who did all the research take care of all our students I really appreciate it I also just wanted to say I I appreciate the work and and um the effort to be inclusive of all the different um students were presented I just um wondering at what point um we would include other holidays or decide not to include other holidays I'm anticipating if anybody happens to get this looks at it and says well my holiday is not on here just a thought um want to keep you know make sure that's on everybody's radar because we might we might get that well think also um I think we haven't really if if we you know the public sees this and says hey what are the rules going to be like we weren't even that far we were just trying to that's why cultural awareness um that in some ways some of the um uh issues that we've seen as as a committee or we've experienced as as just parents in the community um that often the the response back was I didn't even know about that like it was like okay so this is this is a way to kind of start helping with some of that as well this I just want to say to like these guys said it's a work in progress so if somebody comes forward and there's something that we we missed obviously will'll be open to opening it up again in or what not so um thank you and the likely answer could be we didn't even know about that thank you so much and it's not going to hurt anyone to not get homework on that nobody loses from that so we'll of course include that into our um next up we have uh policy M good evening again I I asked I asked uh to approve under the superintendent recommendation the first reading of the two policies listed can I get a motion in a second to approve the agenda I'll motion I'll second um questions or comments from the board if not I have some okay um so first up the um just so the public knows we have the school and facility names up as a uh first read that um policy hasn't been updated since 2010 um so it's a good time to look at it we also did have in um a staff request regarding a recommendation um for naming so that you know did prompt us to take another look at it and um you'll see the public will get to see that before the next read which will be January 18th so a few days in advance of that in case anybody has any um thoughts or questions on that um the second one that's up for the for first read is the um is transgender students um policy number is 5950 um this is a first read which essentially means that it's starting off the process um in January we will be you know we'll we'll definitely announce I know right now we have it down in January 18th um for a second read and that's when we would share out well in advance to the public the date that it's going to be for that meeting um um for that second read as well as we will make sure that that policy the draft of it is out to the public in advance um so people really have time to look it over understand it see the changes um that have been made this is a new policy number um I think I just want to say that over the past few months or six months maybe um we've really listened intently to the community community members who have come out to speak at our meetings um you know for hours we've been in meetings where we've talked um or we we've listened um to different viewpoints on it we've also gotten a number of emails over the months um we know it's a highly sensitive topic um I want to thank Miss pel for um your help and taking the lead um because I think you know you really did a wonderful job of hearing board members input as well as the community um and incorporating it in um I want to thank the board because I feel like it was it was a really good process like I just feel like we worked very well together I feel like everybody um gave their input into it um there's still work I think you know I think we're we're we're still in talks um before the second read but I do feel like um I'm proud of how well everyone worked together and how respectful because there are a variety of opinions on this topic because like I said it is a very sensitive um topic um but similar to the Comprehensive Health policy um and the health curriculum where we work together to draft something um and then shared it with the community got the community input I think we're taking the same approach because we want to make sure that we're doing what's best for students sorry yeah um thank you again um Mrs scy but yes also Diana thank you um cuz you really compiled everybody and had patience and I think um honestly I I've been around a long time we've I I would have to say this is really only the second time we've had to change a policy that was so heated in topics and in in the state and the even in the country um and I as well and I told in that uh Mrs holy this too was so um proud of how we worked together and we didn't all agree at first and that's fine and we're we're not supposed to all agree we're nine people we have our our thoughts um but I loved how we work together and at the end of the day I think all of us could say that we're really just concerned about having something that works for just our children all our children and we I love that we critique things for our district like we did with the health policy um and again it's it's work in progress like anything else if something comes up and we we we can think of it or or situation there's room for it to grow or add to it but I think he did a great job and I'm I'm just proud of it and of course the community was a big part of that so and I thank them for their patients while we were working on it um and and and again if if the if the community feels they want to uh you know share more in understanding the policy we're open to that too so um that's it just thank you and I appreciate everybody's help thank you thank you and um also uh just this is probably just a more inside joke than anything that uh for what it's worth I know we all hoped for 0950 to be the number um but it had be 5950 because 5 5,000 series is the students um series but [Music] um and thank you um okay we have a fin Miss K good evening we'd like to ask the board to take action on item 1 through 14 and we'd like to also make mention of five different donations that we've received through the district whether that be coats or um from the Ed Foundation or we receive money for care so that we can assist families as well as money for the drama that's Club so we're very thankful thank you can I get a motion in a second to approve the agenda I'll motion any questions or comments from the board that was the nicest agenda item I've ever seen as there five in a row it's amazing we're not used to money coming in yes um I will I also wanted to thank everyone for all their generous um donations because it really will help to benefit our students any other questions or comments Finance um we are going to move to uh public comments on agenda items in additional matters the Board of Education recognizes the value of public Comon on matters of interest to the school Community individuals wishing to speak must State their name and Municipality of residents comments are limited to pre ministration but an individual may speak a second time after all others who wish to speak on the topic have been heard all statements should be directed to the board president and no participant May address or question board members in individually all speakers are requested to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy of others whose legal rights may be effective please note while it's not the board's intention to stifle comment on matters of legitimate concern the public should be aware that if their statements violate the rights of others under the law of defamation or invasion of privacy they may face personal liability to the injured party if speakers are uncertain of the legal ramifications of their comments the board urges them to seek guidance beforehand from their own legal advisor couple comments okay then we're going to move to action on agenda items we have curriculum and instructions student services Personnel including walk-in items policy and finance Miss pus yes Mr Monon yes Miss pal yes Miss Scot yes Miss wari yes Miss Martinez yes mrsy yes do we have any any unfinished business any new business yes I went to the M's um holiday for concert last night and it was so we be done and um I know Miss Ryder and all work really hard on it so didn't see it go to the go to the spr um today they had um some of the college students that are home on break come in to talk to to um The Dance Academy students about continuing their dance um um Hobbies or activities at the Collegiate level so my daughter was there and she said there was a good turnout and all the kids asked great questions and um they were able to talk about not only their experience with dance um but also just the whole college experience you know how what it was like making the transition the The Good the Bad and the Ugly and I think it's it's a great tradition that um some of our staff m do I know that um both you know the kids have done um with with different ummies and areas of stem as well so I know that the younger students seem pretty interested in just learning what that transition is going to be like for college and what to expect and I feel like my um daughter really enjoyed imparting the wisdom especially like some of the struggles that she had so I was really appreciative that invited the girls and um also yes and I second that because I've got kids on both ends now um so one who actually participated being in college and giving back and I have a younger student um daughter who's in the STEM Academy who um they get to hear from people in all different um science fields and backgrounds kids that graduated from here and it's just it's great because they can ask questions you know understand things so I don't know if it happens in you know not even just the emies but in other areas I think whether even if it's career day just throwing it out there career day maybe it's an opportunity to bring some of our college kids back just to talk about you know what they've learned what they've done like the field they're in it might just be I an opportunity um because I think the kids learn a lot and it may or may not sway them um in terms of the direction they head so yes great oh i' just like to give a shout out to our wonderful staff and and our wonderful students for the door decorating that took place over the last week um uh Mike and I were in buildings all day today and uh it was it was amazing to see some of the the work that they put together um so thank you I I was just going to say on that and being a parent I'm sure we can all say the reason I love that and my daughter too also helped um with stem and and and came back and spoke um because the kids listen to everybody but their parents or an adult so I love that it's children talking to kids cuz they they just think that they're so knowledgeable in these areas so I love that um regardless of whether the mom or dad say it if the child says it to them then um I think there's so much growth in that so that might be a good idea well yeah they're adults only in certain areas but yes yes yeah agre um the the shout outs for the Performing Arts in the in the district that my boys got to go see puffs of the uh fall play at the high school and um not only is it great for them to see the older kids performing but also it just it obviously the older kids learn a lot from being in those performances but in the subject matter that they chose being Harry Potter there were I think maybe not but um the kids my son's ages Yonder were really into that one specifically I mean they wouldn't normally ask to go to the high school play and yet they were there and also the man's band concert was fantastic it actually had to be over two nights because the band is so gigantic there that they had to do six and sth one night and E the other if a third of those kids are in the high school concert band I don't know where they're going to put them yeah that's so many it's wonderful else and we are going to move to exec session number two um be it resolved that a Clos session be communed for the purpose of discussing privacy personnel and attorney client matters the subject matter of these discussions will be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality subsides although the board cannot guarantee it the length of the executive session is estimated to be 45 minutes after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and proceed with business action will not take place can I get a motion and a second to enter executive session motion I'll second all in favor